smith



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

H. ADALEEET sMITH AND ALLAN A. sMITH, or OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 290,130, dated December11, 1883.

Application ledJune27,18S3. (Nomodcl.)

To all whom it may concern Be It known that we, H. ADALBERT SMITHvandALLAN A. SMITH, citizens of the United ing specication, referencebeing had'to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents aperspective View of an open boxwithv our improvement embodied; Fig. 2, asection of the same taken on the line x x, Fig. l; and Fig. 3, aperspective view of one of the lifting devices detached.

Our invention relates to an improvement in boxes, whereby, as thecontents are gradually removed from the top, the remaining portion Inaybe raised for. the purpose of displaying the contents always at the topof the box or for any other purpose.

The invention consists in providing the box with a loose diaphragm orfalse bottom, and with levers whereby this piece may be-raised 1at willand held at anypoint desired in the Ve will proceed to describe indetail the construction and operation of our invention as we havecarried it out in one way, and will then point out denitely in theclaims the special improvements which we believe to be new and wish toprotect byLetters Patent.

In the drawings, A represents a box of any ordinary form andconstruction, the one shown in the drawings being simply for the purposeof illustration, and not intended to represent any particular box, asour invention is 'not limited to any particular box. A false bottom ordiaphragm, B, is cut from stiff paper-board, or any other suitablematerial, ofsuch size-as to easily fit the interior of the box. This islaid at the bottom of the box before lling, and obviously as thecontents of the box are partially removed from the top, if theloosebottom is raised, the remaining contents will be elevated in thebox. In order to accomplish this result in a practical way, we provide alifting device or lever, C, made of wire or other suitable material,bent into the form bent at right angles, this portion forming arms i c',more or less in length than the depth of the box. At the extremities ofVthese arms the the latter arrangement being preferable. This device isapplied to the box, so that the body will extend across it, the twojournal `,parts being received in notches in the lower part of the boxside end, `or in some other way suitably mounted, so that the devicesmay turn on them. The handle c3 is on the outside or inside of the boxat one side or end thereof, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, andobviously, as this part is vibrated back and forth, the device will beturned on its journals, and the main body thereby turned up or down,according to the direction in which the handle is turned. The. liftingdevice is put in the box before the false bottom, and turned so as tolie flat on the bottom of the box, as shown in the full lines in Figs. 1and 2 of the drawings. The movable false bottom B is then laid on thelifters, and the box lled with whatever it is intended to contain.Evidently by turning up the lifters by means of the handles outside ofthe box the false bottom will be elevated, as shown in the dotted linesin Fig. 2 of the drawings, and of course the contents of the box beraised with the false bottom.

Any suitable device may beemployed for fastening the handles in anydesired position, so that the lifters and the false bottom may be heldat any desired plane of adjustment. We

have shown in the drawings a simple way of v and secured at any heightfrom the bottom of i the box.

This improvement is especially adapted to' cigar, cracker, and otherboxes in which the contents are removed gradually from the top, and itis desirable to expose the remaining contents at the top of the box. Asapplied to cigar-boxes, it is obvious that as one layer is used thefalse bottom may be raised, so as to bring the next layer to the top,and so on, until all the cigars are used up. \Ve do not, however,confine ourselves to the application of our improvement to cigar-boxes,for there are many kinds in which the improvement can be applied.

In sample-boxes of various kinds it will be found useful, and it isuseful not only for the purpose of exposing the contents continually atthe top of the box, but also for the purpose of securely retaining thecontents of the box for transportation when only partially filled, forit will be seen that the false bottom when raised sufiiciently high willhold the Contents between it and the box`cover.

In the drawings the box is shown open; but of course it will beunderstood that a cover of any kind adapted to the form and intended useofthe box will be applied whenever required.

IVe wish it understood that we claim our invention applied not only toboxes, but to any containing-receptacle to which it may be applicable.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and wish toprotect by Letters Patent, is

l. The box, in combination with a loose false bottom, B, and the bentlifting device C, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The box, in combination with a loose false bottom, B, and the liftingdevices C, bent as described, and provided with an arm or handles, c,arranged on the outside or inside of the box or containing-receptacle,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. 'Ihe box A, in combination with a loose false bottom, B, the liftingdevices C, provided with the handles c3, arranged on the outside orinside of a box or receptacle, and means whereby the said handles may besecured-in any position of adjustment, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

H. ADALBERT SMITH. ALLAN A. SMITH. Titnessesz HABLAN P. DnRALoN, GENIO.D. CLARK, O. M. HARRIS, D. J. MEDBERY.

